Lick Lips Trick---so Easy.

Lol, i was watching Buddy lick his lips, and decided to 'capture' that and make it a trick. We killed off a rainy afternoon anyway!! ha ha!
I started out by putting peanut butter on his cheek, and clicking when he licked it, however, he ended up pawing it off instead.
so then i put peanut butter on TOP of his nose, and had better luck. HOwever, my dog seemed to find the whole thing ---food on his face---annoying. I clicked and treated him with OTHER treat than peanut butter, so he could sense "this is a trick".
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so then, i settled on holding "his" peanut butter jar under his nose, so he could smell it, and clicking when he licked his lips.
(yes, my dog has his OWN clearly-marked peanut butter jar, separate than 'ours', so i can stick my finger in it, ha ha)
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For the cue, i use "Buddy, do you like kitty cats?" and Buddy licks his lips!
runner up cue was "tequila" but, Buddy has too many booze-related joke tricks already, ha ha

I'm capturing Fly lips licking also. She lips her lips very often naturally (a calming signal). So she does lick her lips if I lick mine in response. When she gets it correctly, I'll add the cue "Yummy !"

I had the most unexpected consequence of teaching Buddy this trick, and it surprised me.
Long long ago, i had taught Buddy to "smile" upon request, and he does. I say "smile" and Buddy opens his mouth, and has a smile, very similar to the one you see in his current icon photo. This cue is SOLID like a rock, okay? This "smile" cue, is one Buddy does very very often, for over a year.

NOW, that i have trained Buddy to lick his lips, to the word "kitty cat", NOW Buddy no longer understands "smile"....NOW when i say "smile", Buddy licks his lips.

i guess, both cues make Buddy think: "mouth trick".
So i had to get the clicker, and start all over from scratch, on the cue "smile". Oddly, it's not going any faster than if he'd NEVER ever heard the cue in his life....it is as if he's never been taught this before...wow, right?

yeah, i'm real sorry i ever taught this trick to Buddy,
as now,
his "smile" cue is still a lil bit shoddy, he STILL occasionally offers lip-licks now, when i say "smile".
dang.
i've quit the "Buddy wanna kitty cat" cue altogether, and am just focusing on getting back his "smile" cue.

Unimaginative me uses the cue "Where's your tongue?" Wish I'd thought of "kitty cat."
Zac doesn't have a "smile" to ruin and "Where's your tongue?" is a nice static trick when there are nervous kids around.
Maybe I could teach a new cue?

yeah, i am going to attempt same thing, RDog,
i'm going to try swapping out the cue for a trick Buddy already knows......
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not exactly sure how to begin....say old cue/new cue back to back,
and then,
overtime, drop out old cue?
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btw, i STILL can't get Buddy to be able to do two different mouth tricks! isn't that something?
so i dropped the lick-lips,
and just have Buddy smile on cue.
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if i try to have Buddy have BOTH tricks in his list of tricks,
he mixes the 2 tricks up, and then licks lips for "Smile"
and sometimes smiles for "Buddy wanna kitty cat?"
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sigh. i wonder if other dogs can do 2 mouth-position tricks, and keep the 2 tricks sorted out in their mind....could be me doing something wrong.

You'll be happy to read that I'm not able to teach her any of both tricks properly to Fly. I thought she got lick lips but in fact she didn't get it right. And smile, I didn't even try. So for the moment, I'm no good at this.